The studies come amid new evidence that even low doses of arsenic may reduce IQ in children, in addition to well documented risks of heart disease, cancer and reduced lung function.

“”Arsenic is the biggest public-health problem for water in the United States—it’s the most toxic thing we drink,” said geochemist Yan Zheng, an adjunct research scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who coedited the special section and coauthored some of the articles. “For some reason, we pay far less attention to it than we do to lesser problems.”

I love those maps. It’s amazing the data pretty much stops at the Texas-New Mexico state line. I suppose no one real actually cares about the rural areas of New Mexico, OR, maybe it’s all that BLM ground which is mostly grazing for cattle.

Exactly! Didn’t some wiseguy once say something to the effect; “if it isn’t new it isn’t news?”

The only people I have seen coming out against vaccinations are people who have never seen an epidemic up close and personal. You and I are old enough to remember polio. I am also allergic to penicillin and it’s derivatives and had an experience that has always stuck with me.

I was given penicillin as a young child and suffered full-blown anaphylaxis. That was traumatic but it paled in comparison to a later event. When I was suffering from tonsillitis a couple years later my doctor prescribed one of the derivatives and that reaction was slower. I woke up the next morning suffering from excruciating joint pain and labored breathing. When the doctor arrived, I am also old enough to remember house calls, I watched my mother turn white and shake uncontrollably when she asked; “is it polio?”

I must have a high level of empathy because I seem to remember seeing others in distress more than my own discomfort. My pain is just a hazy memory but l Mom’s sheer terror is still very vivid and “present” in my mind.

Because people are free to travel across state lines, this is not solely a States’ Rights issue. Infected children from one state can easily infect children in other states. I’m not sure how they arrived at this “philosophical exemptions” bullshit, but vaccines work, and they only work if the vast majority of people are vaccinated. Otherwise millions could be at risk. Congress must pass some kind of mandate on this (though I doubt the Republicans will do it unless they can pick and choose which pharmaceutical companies will benefit.)

I’m starting to think that the Russians and Chinese should probably just nuke us. With the GOoPers in control of both the House and the Senate I think it’s safe to say that our country is FUBAR(edemption).

So, it appears that Mike Huckabee, while attending Hope High School, wrote an advice column for young Christians. I didn’t know he was also from around that town, but I can understand why he doesn’t mention it much. It’s where that unruly Blythe family came from. 🙂

Huckabee also advises teens to date a fellow Christian who does not swear or drink excessively: “If the person isn’t the type you’d feel comfortable talking about Jesus with then I recommend you don’t date that person.”

Supreme Court lets stand ruling that firing woman for breastfeeding not sexist since men can lactate

The Supreme Court has declined to overturn a lower court’s ruling that an insurance company was within bounds when it fired a breastfeeding mother. The woman’s suit was dismissed by the Eighth Circuit Court on the grounds that firing a woman for breastfeeding isn’t sexist because men can lactate, too.

“Although I strongly believe in individual rights and the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit, I also recognize that public health and public safety are extremely important in our society. Certain communicable diseases have been largely eradicated by immunization policies in this country and we should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical, religious or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them.” — DOCTOR Ben Carson, torpedoing any chance at the GOP nomination.

Man should have stuck with medicine.
Of course the anti-vaxers and teahadis have a lot in common, they believe they have no obligation to their fellow man or to society as a whole. They’re special, they’re free, they’re selfish.

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The draft of an arrest warrant for Argentine President Cristina Fernández was found in the garbage at the home of a prosecutor who was investigating the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing the lead investigator.

Srsly?? Does Argentina have document shredders? How about fire, have they heard of that new invention, fire?

The call for the ‘pro-Russian separatists’ to raise a 100,000 soldiers can be interpreted that these 100,000 men may actually be Russian solders and this is a ‘plausible deniability’ story by the Kremlin.

Ooh my last comment is ‘awaiting moderation’. It was three tweets from the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

1. A deliriously happy Russian parliamentarian in fatigues and carrying an AK47 wondering where all the local ‘separatists’ were, since his ‘fro-Russian’ battalion in Donetsk was ‘90% Russian’

2. The two so-called People’s Republics have declared an intent to ‘raise 100,000 more fighters’ – the speculation is that this is just a cover for a full Russian army invasion, with the badges and epaulettes removed of course.

3. Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, kidnapped by the Russian FSB on trumped up charges, is more than 52 days into a hunger strike and must be near death. #freesavchenko

So, it turns out that my father died this morning. He’d been in assisted living for the past 6 years due to progressive dementia, and his physical health had been decaying significantly the last few months, with at least two diagnosed incidents of pneumonia.

I had the opportunity to visit with him a year ago last August, while he was still able to walk on his own. He was not a Monty Python fan, mainly because he just didn’t know about them. I fear he’d never forgive me if I failed to share the following:

Yeah, I must confess to no small amount of relief. I am hard pressed to believe that he was living well, although he would pick up some of his old charm when the folks from AZ medicaid came out to see him.